I remember when I was in graduate school going to hear one of my personal heroes, Joyce Carol Oates, speak. Her short stories are like literary chocolate. Rich, sweet, and you can never have enough! The part of her lecture that really stayed with me was the idea of an artist needing to "lie fallow" in service to greater creativity.

A good farmer knows she can only plant crops in the same space for so long without giving the land a rest. The soil gives and gives to nourish the plants, every so often it needs a comfy blanket of mulch pulled over it and a season to incubate all the tiny microbial lives that allow it to play it's role as mother to us all. Every mom needs time off.

After that season of lying fallow the green creativity that springs from the land is unbridled. The earth has recharged, became capable of more and it is ready to bloom.

It has been 2 years since I sculpted a fairy. Like overplanted soil, I became fatigued. The things I created were leggy and lacked vitality. Somewhere along the line in the hustle of selling and trying to survive I became disheartened. And whether intentionally or not, I was fallow. My family and partner have nourished me during this time. After a particularly hard winter, many of those struggles and setbacks have decayed, fed my creative soil, and as the snow melts, it's time to sprout! What better a theme than a Green Fairy. Fiery hair and greenery suggesting the joy that comes when the fires return to the land. She is up for auction ending Sunday March 22, 2015 at 10 PM EST. You can find many more photos by clicking this sentence. May your spring bring you joy!